


The Gravity Of It All

by Readeity



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Gen, Hydra (Marvel), Post-Captain America: The First Avenger, Unreliable Narrator
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-10
Updated: 2018-01-10
Packaged: 2019-03-03 01:25:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 604
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13330533
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Readeity/pseuds/Readeity
Summary: James Buchanan Barnes survives the fall from the train in the Alps. What follows makes him wish he hadn't.-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Barnes thinks being a HYDRA prisoner is hell. He isn't wrong.





	The Gravity Of It All

**Author's Note:**

> Title Insp. http://heispureblue.tumblr.com/post/158147762807/
> 
> Unbeta'd
> 
> Summary isn't great, sorry.

He’s falling.

 

It’s cold.

 

It’s cold and he’s falling and Steve is staring out of the train with horror on his face.

 

_Oh,_ he thinks. _It’s the end of the line._

 

**

 

He hits the ground and it’s cold and there’s snow and pain, oh, god, everything hurts _make the pain stop please no stop it let me die I should be dead no._

 

**

 

He’s covered in snow and there’s people, there’s people talking but he can’t make it out, everything still hurts and his head is too fuzzy, he can’t think, what’s happening, where’s Steve, Stevie?

 

**

 

He’s moving and he can hear people again but he can’t summon the energy to open his eyes and he can’t focus on the words, indistinct murmurs, he feels like he’s floating, his arm, oh god, his arm, it hurts, why does it hurt, he can’t move his fingers, is Steve here?

 

**

 

He doesn’t so much wake up as slam back into consciousness. He can't move his fingers _or his bicep what's going on_ and he only has awareness for a moment before _painpainpain_ . His nerves light up and he's burning, it won't stop, what's happening, he's screaming, it echoes off the walls, his feet scramble to find a way to get away, it doesn't work, _bare feet cold metal tables walls that echo,_ someone is sobbing _is it him?_

 

He sinks into the dark.

 

**

 

He wakes in a dank cell _concrete with a moldy mattress and threadbare blanket, hole in the corner for waste, metal door with a slot at the bottom._

 

He’s alone and his shoulder burns in pain.

 

He looks to see what’s wrong with his arm.

 

He screams.

 

His arm’s gone, why, what happened, no, _metal lines the socket and he can feel the buzz of electricity tingling in his shoulder and where his arm should be_ why is he in a cell has he been captured again where is Stevie oh god not again.

 

He screams and screams until three men wearing black uniforms burst through the door _he tries to fight, it doesn’t work_ and he’s hit on the head hard enough to daze him, towed through dim hallways _cold and identical and fuck he’s been captured he doesn’t know if he can go through this again._

 

He bares his teeth in a snarl, tries to rip his arm _oh god oh god he only has one arm fuck no no please_ out of the guard’s hold. The guard brushes off his efforts with ease _in the back of his head he feels the slightest bit insulted but everything is washed out in a blinding white haze of_ **_panic_ ** _and_ **_pain_** _._

 

He tries again and the guard sighs heavily and reaches for something on his hip.

 

_He sees the baton coming at his temple before everything returns to black._

 

**

 

He comes to strapped to a metal chair. There’s metal restraints all over him _clamped tight so he can’t move and panic begins to overwhelm him_ and a short, small man with a badly receding hairline steps forward.

 

The man addresses him by name and tells him just what they’re going to do to him in a heavy German accent. _Superserum booster, exposure to poisons and illnesses, pain resistance training._

 

_His body's gone numb and he thinks he’s in shock._

 

“But first… Well, we must get rid of those pesky memories of yours.”

 

_His eyes widen and his heart pounds._ Metal comes down to cover his face as the back of the chair lowers. _He tries to get out of the restraints but he can’t bend metal._

 

“Welcome to HYDRA, Sergeant Barnes.”

 

**_Pain._ **

 

**Author's Note:**

> Holy shit this is probably my favorite thing I've written. I LOVE this one. 
> 
> For those interested, the original title was literally 'He's falling' and the one after the was 'Gravity (It Catches Up Eventually)'
> 
> The Unreliable Narrator tag - Barnes has literally fallen hundreds of feet and then been taken as a POW after a previous traumatic experience as a POW. He's missing an arm, has other unknown injuries, and is possibly in shock. He isn't the most reliable narrator.
> 
> Thanks for reading! Please comment before you go! It would literally make my day.
> 
> -R


End file.
